Silver Lining
by payella
Summary: Just a little side-line on the story of the Technos. I've been unable to see the Tribe recently, so any contradictions of something that has happened should be forgiven. ^_^
1. Marketplace

The trader yanked open my shoulder bag, digging through it for anything he could make a profit on. It didn't take long for him to find the locket.  
  
"Well, well, what's this?"  
  
He prised it open and looked at the two oval pictures inside.  
  
"Half a loaf of bread for it."  
  
I paused. It was the only reminder I had of my parents. I opened my mouth, about to reply, and there was a voice behind me.  
  
"That's enough. The rest of the food is free."  
  
I closed my mouth again as a short man took a few steps forward and took back the locket.  
  
I watched, wide-eyed as he took a loaf of bread and gave it to me, along with the silver locket.  
  
The man, I knew him. I'd seen him somewhere before. With Ebony, maybe? He made his announcement again.  
  
"The rest of the food is free!"  
  
The crowd behind me quickly advanced to snatch all they could, so I stuffed the bread and necklace into my brown bag and backed away from the crowds.  
  
Once away from the din of the marketplace I stopped and put both of my bags down. Kneeling on the grubby ground, I unzipped the larger of the bags, the one that contained my computer. I arranged myself into a cross-legged position and pulled the laptop out the black bag. Setting it on my lap I lifted the lid and hit the power switch. The computer whirred and I typed in my password when the command appeared. As it continued to boot up I took the bread I had acquired out of the other bag and ripped a piece off. Hungrily stuffing it into my mouth I opened the word processor. I chewed for a moment, thinking about what to write. The sun was beginning to go down so I needed to type fast and get back to the others. I bit my lip and began to type, my fingers flying over the keys.  
  
I must have been typing for at least ten minutes when suddenly it got a lot darker. I stopped, and automatically lowered the lid of the computer. I had always done that to stop mum reading what I was doing. Then I looked up to see what was obstructing my light. It was a boy. One of the new ones. The…the ones that took Joss. Joss was my brother. He had disappeared not long ago. The people in the black clothes took him.  
  
"What do we have here, then?"  
  
His voice was cold and I pushed the lid of my laptop down further, clicking it into place, as though to protect my treasure from him.  
  
"Not speaking?"  
  
I frowned up at him. It was difficult. Despite the darkness I found myself squinting to try and get a good look at him, as though the sun were in my eyes. He was fairly young, I guessed, and had shocking blonde hair. It was styled into spikes.  
  
"We could use you."  
  
It was cold now. I really needed to get back. The others would be wondering where I was.  
  
"Get up."  
  
He held out his hand to me, but I ignored it. Turning away from him I put my laptop back into its bag and zipped it up.  
  
"I said, get up."  
  
His voice was commanding this time so I did what he said. I'd heard about what they could do. They had gun things that zapped people. So, I scrambled up and faced him. He was tall and I was shorter by at least three inches or so.  
  
"What's your name, kid?"  
  
I considered lying to him, but reasoned that it probably wasn't a good idea. Who knew what he would do to me if he knew I had lied? I told him.  
  
"Miranda."  
  
"Well, Miranda. Follow me."  
  
I watched him for a moment. There was no sign of any emotion on his face. I didn't know him. I knew of his Tribe. Of course, everyone did. And he must know what happened to Joss. But, for whatever reason, I trusted this boy. So, I picked up my bags, slung the brown one over my shoulder and held my laptop bag by a strap on the top.  
  
I had to jog to keep up with him; he had long legs. He led me back through the marketplace and the few lingering people watched us. They were pretty used to seeing these...Technos, I think they were called, but they still weren't widely trusted. Ebony told us that they just wanted co-operation, and I suppose that's what I was giving them...Well, this guy anyway. I realised that I didn't know his name.  
  
"Hey...hey, wait."  
  
I ran a bit faster.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
He slowed a little, allowing me to come side-by-side with him.  
  
"It's Jay."  
  
(To be continued...) 


	2. New Lands

Silver Lining: Part 2  
  
Author: Payella (payella@hotmail.com)  
  
Disclaimer: None of the characters mentioned belong to me. Except Miranda's name and personality. The inspiration from her was from the Tribe.  
  
New Lands  
  
I rolled the name around on my tongue for a moment. Jay. It was…nice, I suppose. Not that unusual. It could be short for something. Like Jason. But Jay was nice. A nice name.  
  
We had only been walking for a few minutes, but my legs were aching. I'd been out all day, scavenging all the food I could find. It occurred to me at that moment that the rest, Anna, Malkie, Ruridah, and Isa, would be hungry.  
  
"Uh, Jay?"  
  
He didn't reply, so I continued regardless.  
  
"I need to get food to my friends…they haven't eaten for a while. In fact, that's why I was out in the first place, to find some food. It's difficult, you know…to find food. I give most of mine to Isa, she's the youngest, only five, and she's always – "  
  
"They will be seen to."  
  
I think I recoiled a bit there, he'd just cut me off. I was about to protest and continue my train of thought, which, on reflection wasn't really a train of though at all, just a trail of words in one big, long sentence. Instead, I shut my mouth and concentrated on keeping up with Jay.  
  
At one point I must have been falling behind because he stretched out one hand and told me to give him one of my bags. I stuttered my thanks and handed him the shoulder bag. Then, we walked, or should I say marched, again.  
  
If I had been paying the slightest bit of attention, I would have realised that where this relative stranger was leading me was nowhere that I had ever been before. There were sections of the city that people just did not go to. It was like somebody had declared them forbidden, without actually saying it. Being that as it were, I continued to follow him.  
  
Until, suddenly, without any sign of it happening, we stopped. In front a huge, metal fence. I looked up at the darkening sky and it seemed to me that the fence wasn't stopping. It was…scary in a way, but almost exciting in another. It was like I was journeying into another country, somewhere unexplored and new.  
  
Jay had pulled out a little rectangular card from a pocket somewhere and he passed it under a little box attached to the fence. A gate, that I previously hadn't noticed, swung open and Jay stepped through it. Then, he raised his eyebrows, a sign for me to follow and I did. Cautiously, I took the first step into this unexplored territory, glancing all around me as I did. By the time I was ready to go again Jay was at least twenty metres away from me and still walking across this barren land. I looked around me once again, noticing that the gate had closed again without my noticing, and then ran after the boy.  
  
For the first time (today was turning out to me a day of firsts, I realised), I became aware of a building. A rather large, grey building. But still, despite all the warning bells in my head going off, I was not nervous. Not even a little bit.  
  
Jay stopped in front a door, and turned to look at me. I came to a sudden stop in front of him, my face slightly red and I puffed to catch my breath back. This guy was fast…  
  
"Be polite. Don't make him angry." 


	3. Clinical

Silver Lining: Part 3  
  
Author: Payella (payella@hotmail.com)  
  
Disclaimer: None of the characters mentioned belong to me. Except Miranda's name and personality. The inspiration from her was from the Tribe.  
  
Author's Note: Okay, I'm not entirely sure where this is going; I have a rough idea of the ending, but I'm not sure how to get there. So I don't know how long this is going to be. Bear with me, everybody! ^_^  
  
  
  
Clinical  
  
"Be polite. Don't make him angry."  
  
I'm the sure there was some fair semblance of confusion on my face because Jay let out a short breath of something. Frustration, annoyance? I wasn't sure. He turned towards the metal door again and once again swiped his identification card under it.  
  
"You'll see…"  
  
With that, he put down the bag he had been carrying for me (I presumed that he expected me to pick it up now), and entered the building. I shook my head quickly, not entirely sure what to make of everything that had happened today, picked up the bag and followed him in.  
  
It was cold, that was the first thing I noticed. Colder than it was outside. And another thing…it was white. Clinically white. In fact, so bright were the walls that I had to squint for a few minutes before I could focus properly on anything. The floor was tiled and my shoes squeaked as I trotted along behind Jay, like a puppy following its parent.  
  
The corridors branching off from the one we were travelling down all looked identical. There was a significant lack of colour. Also, there was nobody else here. It was completely deserted.  
  
I almost fell over when Jay stopped in front of yet another white door. A little yelp escaped my lips as I stumbled. Jay ignored me and pushed open the door. The white-haired boy turned, snatched up my bags and sat them just inside the room before tugging the door closed again.  
  
I had managed to straighten myself up again and I tucked some hair behind my ears when the door clicked shut and Jay faced me again. He knelt down on the floor, so his head was about level with my chest. Then, Jay took one of my wrists and attached what appeared to be a large, black bracelet to it. I frowned: for a start I never even noticed he'd been carrying it, or at least I hadn't noticed where he'd gotten it from.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
I pulled my hand from his grip and lifted it up to eye-level. I turned my wrist over and studied the object. There was various lights on it, but for all I tried, I couldn't work out what it was or what it was for.  
  
Jay got up off the floor and took a moment to reply.  
  
"Just…keep it on. Don't try and take it off or you'll hurt yourself."  
  
My fingers flexed slowly as I let my arm drop back down to my side. I nodded submissively and when he started to walk again I followed him. There were thoughts trailing one by one through my head, like my own personal movie. This was so unlike me…why wasn't I worried, or arguing, or fighting, or doing anything at all? Ebony's words floated back to me. Co-operation. It was my undying trust in our leader that did it; Everybody in the city was losing faith in her, but I kept believing that she would pull through and save us all. Save us.  
  
Suddenly there was a burst of noise; people talking, machines whirring, footsteps…video games? My head snapped up to be met with an odd sight, to say the least. There were computers everywhere. Wires connected them, running all over the room. And the people. They were dressed mainly in black, most of them working with some kind of machinery. In all honesty I could say that I'd never seen anything like it, not even before the Virus.  
  
A chair was sat in front of me and from somewhere outside my own thoughts Jay told me to sit down. I did as I was bid and continued my study of the room.  
  
"Another virt, Jay?"  
  
Another boy had appeared in front of me, and I looked up to be met with Jay's face, but yet, not Jay. I seemed to have lost my ability to speak, so I just let out an unintelligible squeak.  
  
"Go back to your game VED, leave her alone."  
  
The miniature Jay, apparently called Ved, squatted down in front of me, eyes narrowed in some form of deliberation. He looked me up and down and picked up my arm, glanced briefly at the new attachment to my wrist and seemed satisfied with that, as he got up and returned to where he's come from.  
  
I didn't like him. He was…I'm not sure. He was something that I didn't like, anyway.  
  
The room fell silent and I shivered, despite it being warmer in this room than it had in any of the others. There was the sound of chairs scraping back as people stood up.  
  
Then a door opened and Jay moved over to stand beside me. I turned my attention away from Ved and looked over at the door to see three people enter; a boy in a wheelchair flanked on either side by two girls. This place seemed to have a thing with twins; the girls were indistinguishable. In fact, it didn't take me long to see that not only did they look like each other, but Ebony.  
  
The boy in the wheelchair used the controls on his chair to make his way over to Jay and me, the twins keeping in perfect stride beside him.  
  
"What have you got for me today then, Jay?" 


End file.
